Gun Purchases Increase After King Verdict

May 16, 1992|By STEVE NICHOL, Staff Writer

Palm Beach County residents have joined fellow Floridians in a race to arm themselves, as handgun sales statewide have increased more than 50 percent since the Rodney King verdict and subsequent rioting in Los Angeles and across the nation.

``I`ve got people who are anti-gun, buying guns. They are scared,`` said gun dealer Greg Pryor of Greg`s Guns in Boynton Beach.

Deadly shootings, fires, looting and beatings came after a decision by a jury, with no blacks, to not convict four white Los Angeles police officers in the beating of King, a black motorist.

Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner James T. Moore says the escalation of gun sales in the state is frightening.

``We already have too many weapons out there. With this, when people have confrontations, instead of words or fisticuffs, people will pull a weapon,`` Moore said.

The racially charged rioting has some people fearing the Oct. 6 retrial of former Miami police Officer William Lozano, local gun dealers say.

The Hispanic officer was found guilty of killing a black motorcyclist and his black passenger in an incident that led to three days of rioting in Miami in January 1989.

An appeals court overturned Lozano`s manslaughter convictions, ruling that the jury may have feared an acquittal would produce more violence.

Mike Caruso, owner of Delray Shooting Center, said sales have increased about 20 percent in the past couple of weeks.

``They don`t want to be victims of a rampage, especially with this Lozano trial going on,`` Caruso said.

Pryor said his gun sales have tripled and during the week of the verdict it was even more than that. ``It`s the topic of conversation. They are concerned about racial unrest at this point,`` he said.

But other gun dealers said their sales have remained steady.

On April 29, the day of the King verdict, FDLE logged 536 calls from gun stores in Florida checking criminal records of purchasers. The previous Wednesday, the FDLE hot line received 477 calls. A day after the verdict, as the rioting spread to other cities, calls escalated to 730, up from 431 the previous Thursday.

On May 1, after unrest spread to Tampa, there were 1,044 purchases of firearms in Florida, up 52 percent from the previous Friday`s 686.

Gun sales, which are tracked through the number of background checks on buyers and are subject to a three-day waiting period, are usually consistent week-to-week, said John Joyce, FDLE spokesman.

-- Information from The Associated Press was used to supplement this report.